A Dose of Reality

When people found out that Nick and I were having a baby, we constantly heard things like, “this will be the best thing you have ever done!” and “get ready to fall in love hard!”

And yes, all of those things are very, very true. But you know what they forget to tell you? That a tiny, 9 pound human can make you want to rip your hair out and can easily bring a grown woman to tears.

Clearly today has been lovely. Carson’s last feeding was at 8:00 p.m. last night and then he want to bed and didn’t wake up to eat again until 12:45! An almost 5 hour stretch?! I was ecstatic and patting myself on the back that we were clearly getting a hang of this parenting thing.

You know what happens when you get a little cocky? That 9 pound human decides to show you who’s boss. After that lovely stretch of sleep, it was time to eat every 3 hours again…in between fussing of course. And once he was up for the day, it was constant crying, which he has never done before. And forget sleeping in his bassinet. He was out like a light on me and once I put him down, those lungs were going, arms and legs were flying around and his face was beet red. Add that on top of a lack of sleep in the second half of the night and I wasn’t feeling my best.

Oh and did I mention I’m having a Crohn’s flare-up? I went to the doctor on Tuesday and have a ton of pills to take every day to hopefully get it under control quickly. I can’t stay on the medicine too long because I’m breastfeeding, so I’m hoping it clears up quickly so I don’t have to switch him to formula yet. We shall see. For now I’m eating a boring diet and staying away from my beloved ice cream.

He’s 5 weeks old today and I guess he just needed to celebrate with a bang. Luckily, he’s asleep in his crib right now. Hallelujah…Mommy needed a break. Or maybe a glass of wine. 🙂

Thank heavens for all the cuteness because babies are not always easy. The one piece of advice that definitely rings true? It will change your life forever.